I am considering a Red Stag, Tahr and Chamois hunt June/July this year with Cardrona Safaris. Has anyone on this Forum hunted with them or know about them? Any feedback would be appreciated.

I know John - he is a good guy and one of the better outfitters in NZ... I havent been to his place though. There is one 2005 hunting report on the Hunting Report website - worth checking out and check some recent client references.

I just happened to see some of the videos and decided to do a search here for Cardrona. Absolutely gorgeous country!

http://www.cardrona-safaris.co.nz/videos/

It appears to be a little "canned," but I shouldn't say that without more evidence.

First the use of the term "preserve" throughout their website made me curious about their operation, but that may have a different meaning in NZ than it does to me here in the U.S.

Also, the animals seemed a little tame. Perhaps they are just unmolested and don't receive much hunting pressure. I suppose the lack of natural predators could contribute to their boldness as well.

Any thoughts?

You comments are appreciated.

I'm sure there are photos of the owner of Cardrona Safaris posted on here,from his hunt to Ethiopia.

Preserve is a private Estate,yes mainly behind wire.

http://www.cardrona-safaris.co.nz/tahr-hunting/

This is obviously behind wire "Canned hunt". You do not get wild red stags like that. They are farmed animals with selected genetics and breeding including artificial insemination. Red stags from deer farms are sold off to safari operators on a regular basis.

There is reference to helicopter access for tahr hunting - "...with helicopter access now possible, this exhilarating hunting experience can now be made available to hunters of all levels of physical fitness. ".....

That has to be a canned hunt as real Tahr hunting is not possible unless you are very very fit.

If you want to do free range / fair chase hunting, they should be able to organise it as well, as NZ is a small place and the outfitting community is very small and everyone knows everyone.

quote:

Originally posted by Nakihunter:
http://www.cardrona-safaris.co.nz/tahr-hunting/


That has to be a canned hunt as real Tahr hunting is not possible unless you are very very fit.

What about on the best private land?? Pay top dollar trophy fee but you are hunting the best free range herds... Some of those properties you can drive quite high or take a helo to the top and hunt down. Is that not real enough for most hunters or do you have to bust your arse around the public land with everyone else to make it real or un-canned??

Live 5kms down the valley from Cardrona and hunt their home property from time to time and they share the hunting on the tahr property I hunt. Their tahr hunts are honest private land hunts. Nothing wrong with taking a chopper ride to the top of the mountain. Good outfit and great people. Ask the right questions and you'll get nothing but honest answers from John.

I, for one, have been there and done that.

Hunted with Cardrona in July 2007. Shot stag, thar, and chamois.

The stags: Yes, they are behind the wire as most all big stags from NZ are. However, there are not many roads in their area and you MUST be in reasonable shape to get to where the stags are. The stag will be the easiest trophy to get.


The Thar. There are ZERO thar behind the wire and ZERO thar on John's property. In fact, I believe it is now illegal to have captive tahr in NZ. The thar are two hours away in some true Lord of the Rings country, no fences. We hunted on foot in the snow and it was just as much of a hunt as any North American sheep hunt. You can use helicopter to go in if you elect to do so.



Here is where you canned tahr hunt happens. Yeah, right! This is me two hours into a four hour climb!


Chamois. Two options. Wilderness or private land. Either is a great challenge. I shot mine on John's property and it was a half day walk from where we parked the car, two valleys away from the closest road.


All in all, it was a good hunt. I've also hunted with Glenroy. Cardrona was a tougher hunt than Glenroy. Better be ready to walk up hill.

Its a bit late, but try Manuka lodge, on the rakaia.They have genuine free range. They are excellent hosts and offer a prime free range red stags in steep country and primo views.

Will,
Wonderful trophies, particuliarly the stag.

quote:

Originally posted by sandgroper:
Its a bit late, but try Manuka lodge, on the rakaia.They have genuine free range. They are excellent hosts and offer a prime free range red stags in steep country and primo views.

Are you saying there is no high-fence at Manuka????????

Free range stag taken with David Musgrave of South Pacific hunters....a Great hunt!

Safari Lawyer... it is incorrect that there are no tahr 'behind wire' in NZ. There sure are...

quote:

Originally posted by Matt Graham:
Safari Lawyer... it is incorrect that there are no tahr 'behind wire' in NZ. There sure are...

Indeed. I know of quite a few places in Caterbury and also a few near Queenstown that have herds of tahr behind fence. We used to take guys to several in Canterbury.. Were still tough hunts on foor for sure.. Not as hard as the free range stuff on foot, but they still gave a good run.

quote:

Originally posted by Matt Graham:

quote:

Originally posted by sandgroper:
Its a bit late, but try Manuka lodge, on the rakaia.They have genuine free range. They are excellent hosts and offer a prime free range red stags in steep country and primo views.

Are you saying there is no high-fence at Manuka????????

sorry for the late reply Matt.
Yeah completly free range. Not in the fat cat section.Some nice stags were seen.Big 10's,11's and 12's.looked over 6 or 7 a day.

quote:

Free range stag taken with David Musgrave of South Pacific hunters....a Great hunt!

Well done. Very nice stag.

Safari-lawyer,

Nice animals! I've been debating on going there for a hunt. I looked at the map of where Cadrona is and there isn't much around there. I'd like to be able to go in to town for some trinket shopping. Did you do that and if so was it an all day drive?
Anything in particular about NZ that one should look for in the shops?
Thanks

Plenty to do there.

40-ish minutes to Queenstown; 20-ish minutes to Wanaka. My wife went along and they had a daily programme for her. She skiied, jet boated, toured, wine tasted, shopped, etc. We also drove to Wanaka one night to take my guide and his wife to dinner. We spent two days in QT before we came home.

Both Queenstown and Wanaka are like ski villages. Lots to see, plenty to eat and drink. Relaxed hunt, lots of fun. Nice people. Safe place.

You'd like John Scurr at Cardrona. He's hunted CAR with Andre Roux, Thierry Labat PH. John got 18 species in CAR, including Bongo and LD Eland.

It was funny that I was in NZ and John Scurr was talking about going to CAR. Fast forward two years and I am in Zim and the PH is telling me about hunting a guy from NZ in the CAR, I say you're talking about "John Scurr" and Labat looks at me like I'm a mind reader.

At to what to look for in the shoppes: we bought wool and/or possum fur gloves, socks, scarves, etc for everybody back home, paua shell jewelry, local paintings, and an ancient kauri wood bowl (spendy but nice).